ollagnieb



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

0. OLLAGNIER. CIGARETTE MACHINE.

No 543,189. Patented July 23, 1895 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHRISTOPHE OLLAGNIER, OF GENEVA, SWITZERLAND.

CIGARETTE -MAGHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 543,189, dated July 23,1895.

Application filed March 29, 1895'. Serial No. 543,659. (No model.)Patented in Switzerland October 4, 1894.,-No. 9,086.

To all whom it may concern: r.

' Be it known that I, CHRISTOPHE OLLAG- NIER, manufacturer, residing atGeneva, Swit 'zerland, haveinvented certain new and usefnl Improvementsin Cigarette llrlachines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in thatclass of machines for manufacturing cigarettes for which the paper tubesare previously made on other suitable machines, such tubes needing onlyto'be filled with tobacco by means of the present machine in their wholelength or in part of it. Such paper tubes may be provided or not with acardboard mouthpiece.

My improved machine is especially characterized by a device intended tocompress the tobacco which is to be introduced into such cigarette to apredetermined degree, and then the compressor is retracted before thetobacco is introduced into the paper tube."

This feature of my improved machine has for its object to reduce tozero, or nearly so, the number of defective cigarettes produced, thedefective cigarettes produced by some other machines being numerous. Thelatter have generally been constructed with a View of making the entirecigarette automatically without any hand-work. This I have found to bepractically prejudicial to the quality of work done, and my opinion isbased. on the fact that, according to the hygrometrical state of thetobacco, which is very variable, the volume of tobacco which must befilled into each paper tube must be varied according to the saidhygrometrical state, which can only be made by hand, the touch of aclever workman being the best regulator forsuch work.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of one formof my improved machine, part of which is supposed to be broken away soas to draw that part of the machine which is affixed to the floor near 1that part of the same which is affixed on a suitable table.

Fig. 2 is a similar end view of the machine. Fig. 3 is asection on theline 5 and 6 are separate views of the device for holdingand abandoningthe paper tube. Fig. 7 is an underneath view of the cam-wheel I.

In all the figures the-same letters of refer- I ence refer to the sameparts.

A is the frame of that part of the machine which is to be affixed to atable B of any kind and of suitable height. The frame A has a frontplateA provided with two sleeves a and a O is a spindle supported in theframe A and plate A, and said spindle has secured to it the I It is tobe understood that the gears just described, which are intended totransmit the rockingmovements of thetoothed segment G on the one hand tothe rack F and on the other hand to the cam Lmay be of any desired kindand that I do not limit myself to the abovedescribed combination ofwheels. There may be interposed, for instance, one or moreintermediategears intended to reduce the amplitude of oscillation of the saidsegmentG and of the corresponding treadle without reducing the amplitudeof oscillation of the cam I and of the to-and-fro motion. of the rack F.

- To thetoothed segment G there is provided an arm 9, theend of which isconnected by meansof an adjustable rod J to. a rocking lever K of thetreadle. The said rocking lever K is journaled at Z to a bearing L,which is affixed to the floor and. which is provided with suitableprojections 10 to limit the stroke of the treadle-lever. By alternatelyacting upon the right or the left treadle one causes the seg ment G tobe alternately rocked in either direction, which causes the cam I to bepartially rotated and the rack F to be drawn to and fro.

The cam I has on its lower face a' groove in the form of a spiral, asshown ,in Fig. 7, in

which engages the roller m, which surrounds '9 the pivot m fixed'to thesliding compressor M. The groove 15 of the camI has a check 1 formed soas to slightly retract the compressor M without completely opening themold, of which the front of said compressor bears onehalf portion, afterthe tobacco has been compressed and before it is drawn into the papertube.

The compressor M slides between two guides N and N on the frame A, andtwo suitable screws n and n are provided in view of exactly regulatingthe said guides. The front part of the compressor M is formed so as tooverlap the knife-blade O and the half-mold P, fixed to the same bymeans of bolts p which are engaged through suitable slots of suchoverlapping part of compressor M, so as to allow the position of thesaid knife and half-mold to be exactly regulated with respect to theto-and-fro sliding compressor M, suitable set-screws 1), Fig. 3, beingmoreover provided for that object. The thickness of the knife-blade 0may be augmented or diminished at will if the thickness of the mold isto be diminished or augmented. This allows one and the same machine tobe used with different sets of molds and knives intended to formcigarettes of different diameter, of round or elliptic shape.

P is one-half part of the mold fixed to the frame A, and when thecompressor is moved into its front position, as shown in Fig. 3, theparts P and P 'form with one another a tubular mold, in which thetobacco is compressed after the knife 0 has out off those parts of saidtobacco which extend beyond the top of the half-mold P The rack Fcarries a piston-rod F, guided in a sleevef, which forms a prolongationof the cylindrical mold formed of the parts P and P as above specified.At the other end of such cylindrical mold there is affixed a sleeve f,intended to be introduced into the paper tube which is to be filled upwith tobacco. A clutch, formed of a pair of nippers G, provided with asuitable spring, is disposed so as to normally press the paper tube uponthe sleeve f, so. as to firmly grasp the same while the tobacco is.introduced into it. On the other hand, the rack F carries two Wedges orbeveled piecesf and f, which are intended to open the clutch G. Thewedge or beveled piece f is intended to open the clutch G when thepiston-rod F is completely retracted to the right out of the mold P P soas to have the clutch G opened to allow the workman to engage a papertube upon the sleeve f within said clutch G.

The wedge or beveled piece f is intended to open the clutch G when apredetermined length of the piston-rod F is passed into the mold--thatisto say, when the paper tube is filied up to a predetermined length (forinstance, up to the cardboard tube) with tobacco. The paper tube is thenabandoned to itself by the clutch G, and the cigarette falls through achannel Q into a suitable box. (Not shown.)

The wedge or beveled piece f is ad just-able on the rack F in view ofallowing one to vary at will the length of the tobacco-cylinder engagedin the paper tube when the clutch G is opened. R is a hopper, fixed tothe frame A by means of pins 0". The said hopper is divided into twocells by a suitable partition, the left cell being intended to receivethe paper tubes intended to be filled up and the right cell beingintended to receive the tobacco.

The frame A has a slot a through which the powdered tobacco may escapeto prevent its obstructing the passage of the sliding compressor M.

The .machine works as follows: The workman having his two feet on thetreadles presses the left one down and causes thereby the rack F and rodF to be retracted to the right, and the compressor M to be retracted andthe mold P P and also the clutch G to be opened by the wedge f TheWorkman then passes a paper tube over the sleevef and engages a oertainquantity of the tobacco contained in the hopper into the mold betweenthe pieces P P Then the workman presses the right treadle down,wherebythe following operations take place successively in the order as givenbelow: The clutch G is shut-that is to say, the papertubeaffixed.Thetobaccocontained between the pieces P and P is compressed and thoseparts of the same extending beyond the part P are cut off. Thecompressor M is slightly retracted, so as to allow the compressedtobacco to slightly expand and to be easily moved along the tubular moldformed of the parts Pand P The tobacco is moved by the piston-rod F intothe paper tube. The clutch G is reopened, so as to allow the filledpaper tube to fall into the channel Q, and finally the compressor M isretracted. Then the above operations begin again.

I claim as my invention In a machine for making cigarettes a moldcomposed of two parts one of which is stationary and the other movable,a cam having a spiral groove, a pin connection to the moving part of themold, the groove of the cam being formed so as to firstclose the moldand compress the tobacco and then slightly to retract the moving side ofthe mold for lessening the pressure upon the tobacco and then to openthe mold and hold the same during the re mainder of the rotation of thecam, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in vthepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

CI-IRISTOPHE OLLAGNIER.

Witnesses:

E. GRUER SOHMEID, OTTO H. MAY,

